Uyghur Figures – Abdulaziz Makhdum

Uyghur Figures – 01

Abdulaziz Makhdum was born in 1894 in the Atush County of Kashgar, and his father was Abdul Qadir Damolla bin Abdul Warith al-Kashghari, a pioneer of the Uyghur Renewal Movement and a prominent figure.

He received his primary and secondary education in Kashgar City. He learned Arabic and Persian from his father and other mentors. Then his father sent him to India to complete his higher education.

In the 1920s, Abdulaziz began his university career in India. His study coincided with the tremendous struggle of the Indian people against the British Empire. Abdulaziz actively participated in these activities that made freedom the ultimate goal, becoming an ally at the forefront of the people’s movement in India In the struggle against oppression.

In August 1924, after learning of his father’s murder in Kashgar, he returned from India to East Turkestan to find his father’s killer and bring him to justice. Unfortunately, because of the various impediments to the authoritarian regime, his case never saw the light. 

After returning from abroad, he spent more than 43 years of his 58-year life in the prisons of Yang Jin Shin (1924-1914), Jin Shoryin (1933-1924), Sheng Shisai (1944-1933), Kuomintang (1949-1944), and the Chinese Communist (after 1949) until his release in the autumn of 1980. 

Then in August 1982, this courageous man who spent his entire life in Eastern Turkistan was martyred in a train plot.

By Abd El-Baqi